Silver Gains Twice as Much as Gold Today

Having been driven down to a 4-month low of $1,308 per ounce by data indicating the biggest consumer spending gain in more than four years, it started a slow, steady rally.

As the news and television pictures from Egypt flowed over the course of several, it gained $38. A classic, safe haven trade in times of uncertainty. Or, at least a time to cover shorts in the face of that.

But interestingly, from noon onwards, gold failed to make further gains—in fact, it dipped.

Today, silver has been a better safe haven trade than gold. There's the same shape to the chart. But at 3 percent, the gain is twice that of gold.

And the silver ETF has outperformed even the spot price, continuing to gain through the afternoon.

Finally, the trade in oil has been three timesas profitable as gold today, with a gain of 4.3 percent, because the speculation that unrest could impact oil production attracts more buyers. But again, note how there were no gains after noon.

Any hope that new, super-hot commodities might be modern stores of value, like cotton , have proved not so accurate in time of crisis. It has crumbled like stocks.